Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Exploring in a new world

Captain Selvadak is a man unwilling to be lonely, he will not be conquered by these strange phenomena one after another.He was not like Ben-Zov, who was indifferent to everything.Instead, he likes to get to the bottom of things, trying to find out what's going on.He felt that it was not surprising that things behaved this way or that, it was important to understand why.He believes that if you are knocked down by a bullet, as long as you can figure out how the bullet moves according to the law and along what trajectory it knocks you to the chest, you should die without regret.This is his philosophy of life.Therefore, after showing a brief uneasiness about the strange phenomenon that just happened, all he yearned for now was to find out its root cause.

"Damn it," he cried resentfully, after the sudden nightfall, "seems like we'll have to wait until daylight to see what's going on. I hope the sun will come out, and whether it's clear or cloudy, I'll have to find out Where has the sun gone?" "Captain," said Ben-Zoff, "excuse me, what should we do now?" We will stop here for now.To-morrow--if there is ever a tomorrow--we will have another good look at the newly formed coast on both sides and to the south, and then return to our lodgings.We have no way of knowing what happened over there, the most urgent thing is to figure out where we are now and figure out what happened.So, having surveyed the coast to the west and south, we..."

"God knows if there's a coast to the south?" Ben-Zoff said. "And I don't know if that's the south side or not," replied the captain. "So can I sleep now?" "Of course, as long as you can sleep." Upon hearing these words, the carefree Ben-tsov lay down beside a boulder, covered his eyes with his hands, and fell asleep peacefully without any worries. Captain Servadac walked up and down the new shore.His mind was full of thoughts, and the series of problems before him made it difficult for him to calm down. First of all, what is the scale of this disaster?Is it limited to this part of North Africa?Can Oran, Algiers, and Mostaganem, cities that are close at hand, be spared?Were his friends and colleagues buried in the belly of the fish along with the local population?Did the waters of the Mediterranean simply overflow the coast and flood the area near the mouth of the Sharif because of the earthquake?However, if this is the case, it can only explain why the Sharif River no longer exists. As for other changes in the world, there is no way to explain it.

Another possibility is that the coast of Africa has moved to the equator.But this can only explain why the sun passes through the zenith and why there is no sunset, but it cannot explain why the day is only six hours instead of twelve, and why the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. "But," Servadac couldn't help muttering in his heart, "it's clear that the daylight hours today are only six hours, and from the position of sunrise and sunset, the East and the West have been completely reversed. It is undeniable that The facts. Anyway, see it tomorrow--if there is a tomorrow!"

A series of unanswerable questions made him more and more confused. The sky was covered with dark clouds, and the usual bright stars were gone, which was a great disappointment.Although Selvadak is not very proficient in astronomy, he still knows a thing or two about some big constellations.If the sky had been clear of clouds, he could have seen whether the Polaris was still there, or had been replaced by another planet, and deduced from this whether the earth's rotation had been altered, or reversed altogether.As long as you understand this point, many problems will be solved.But the dark clouds in the sky seemed to be gestating a storm, how could we see a single star?Selvadak, who looked up to the sky from time to time, had no choice but to sigh.

As for the moon, it is impossible to see it, because it is catching up with the new sun these days, and it has fallen below the horizon with the sun. However, after an hour and a half of walking along the coast, he suddenly saw a strong light on the western horizon through the thick clouds, and it was incredible! "The moon!" he cried, "no, absolutely impossible! Could it be that Toad Palace also changed its direction of rotation and rose from the west? No, it cannot! The moon would not have such a strong light, unless it was at a distance from the earth. greatly shortened."

Yes, the light emitted by this planet is very strong, and the light shines through the dense clouds to illuminate the earth like day. "Could it be the sun?" Servadac asked secretly, "but the sun has just set in the east for less than two hours! It's neither the sun nor the moon, so how can it be any planet? Could it be a huge planet?" Meteors? Ah, there are so many strange things happening today! These dark clouds are really hateful, otherwise you can see clearly." He began to blame himself: "I wasted my good time in the past and didn't study astronomy seriously. It's a pity today. I'm thinking hard now, trying to figure out the problem, maybe it's the most common knowledge of astronomy!"

The sky is so unpredictable.Intense beams of light from that gigantic planet illuminated the clouds.But the strange thing is that after an hour, the planet fell to the horizon along a direction perpendicular to the equator of the earth, instead of rising on one side of the earth and then moving along the direction like other stars in the universe. An arcing motion falls to the other side.With it gone, so was the soft light that shone through the clouds to the ground. Everything returned to the vast darkness.Captain Selvadak's heart became even more confused, and he couldn't understand what was going on.The most basic law of movement of celestial bodies has been disrupted, and the planets seem to no longer move according to their original orbits. The entire space is like a huge clock, and its mainspring suddenly lost control.It seems that the sun will rise again from one side of the horizon, and the hope is very slim.

Unexpectedly, three hours later, the sun suddenly appeared from the west.The morning light shone brightly on the clouds.The night finally passed, and Servadac looked at his watch. This night was exactly six hours. Ben-Zov was soundly asleep, but he had to be woken up. Servadac stepped forward and rudely pushed him awake. "Hey, get up! We're on our way," he called to him. "Ah! Captain," Ben-Zov said, rubbing his sleepy eyes, "I haven't slept enough, it seems like I just fell asleep!" "You've been sleeping all night." "One night!..."

"The time is less, only six hours, but you should get used to the new ring mirror." "I'll get used to it slowly." "Come on! Don't delay. Let's take the shortest way back to our place and see how the two horses are doing. If we can, we'll ride around. What's the disaster in Algeria? Did the place survive? We know so little about that." "and then?" "Then we'll go south to Mostaganem. If that doesn't work, we'll go east to Tenes." So they set off on their way home and headed for their place of residence.New orchards stretched along the roadside, with figs, dates and oranges hanging from their branches.Their stomachs are empty, and they can be picked to satisfy their hunger. Anyway, no one will be seen here, and no one will come to trouble them.

An hour and a half later, they returned to their place of residence smoothly.Everything remains the same there.Apparently, no one came after they left.This side is the same as the other side, no one can be seen anywhere. They were soon ready to go.Ben-Zoff put some biscuits and canned game in his satchel. As for drinking water, it was not a problem. There were many clear streams on the plain.These small rivers used to be tributaries of the Sharif River, but now they all flow directly into the Mediterranean Sea. Ben-Zoff put on the saddle neatly.So they mounted their horses and set off in the direction of the Sharif River. Not only did Selvadak and Benyizov feel that their weight had been greatly reduced and their physical strength had increased tenfold, but the two horses were as light as swallows as they were.They are no longer like two horses, but like monsters with wings in ancient mythology.Their four hooves barely touch the ground.Fortunately, both the captain and Ben Yizoff were top riders, so they could let go of their hands and let the two horses gallop freely. Twenty minutes later, the two horses covered eight kilometers and arrived near the mouth of the Sherif River. Then they slowed down and walked southeast along the original right bank of the Sherif River. The river bank still retains its original character, but the opposite bank no longer exists.As far as the eye can see, there is a boundless sea everywhere.Obviously, judging from this point alone, Mostaganem and the entire province of Oran have been flattened by the sea overnight. Captain Selvadak had surveyed this area before, and he knew the terrain here and the route well.He wants to walk around here as much as possible, take a look, and then write a report, but who is the report sent to?Where to send it?I am also very at a loss. They set out from the mouth of the Sharif River and walked thirty-five kilometers along the original river bank in four hours.At this time, night began to fall.They stopped not far from the river bank for the night.The opposite bank used to be the estuary where the Mina River flowed into the Sharif River. Now the river has disappeared, and as far as the eye can see, there is only a vast expanse of ocean. The strange thing is that they did not meet a single person after walking such a long distance. Ben-Zoff found a place for the captain to lie down and rest.The two horses had been hitched to a stump, surrounded by rich pastures for them to feast on.The night was safe and without incident. The next day, January 2—according to the old calendar, it was just after dark on the 1st—Captain Selvadak and Ben-Zov mounted their horses again and continued to trek along the original river bank. .On this day, they walked 70 kilometers in six hours. The appearance of the banks remained the same.Only after walking 20 kilometers from the mouth of the Mina River, a large section of the Sharif River suddenly disappeared.Not far from the river bank, the besieged outskirts of Surklai and its eight hundred inhabitants have been swallowed up by the sea.I wonder if the same fate has met the great towns of this part of Algeria, Mazagran, Mostaganem, and Orléans? Servadac bypassed this gap and climbed up to the original river bank.On the opposite side of the river was the town of Amimosa, where Muslims and Christians lived together.This town used to be the capital of the Beniura people, but now there is no trace of it, and even the 1,126-meter-high Mangura Mountain behind the town is gone. That night they stopped for the night at a corner of the river bank where this new world came to an abrupt end.This place was once the seat of the town of Momentuno, but there is no trace of it now. "I wanted to spend the night in Orleans tonight and have a delicious meal." Servadac looked at the vast ocean in front of him, feeling lost in his heart. "That's impossible, Captain," said Ben-Zoff, "unless you go by boat." "Ben-Zov, have you ever thought of it, we two are really lucky." "Yes, Captain. It's a common thing in our lives to turn bad luck into good fortune. You see, we will find a way to cross this vast sea and go to Mostaganem." .” "Not necessarily! If this new world is a peninsula, then it is possible to go to Ternes to inquire about news." "It's better for us to provide them with some information." Ben Yizoff said.His words are not without reason. Six hours later, the sun came out.Captain Servadac carefully observed the terrain in this area. The coast turned a corner from where they had spent the night last night, going from south to north.The coast on this side is a newly formed fault zone, unlike that on the other side, which borrows the original bank of the Sharif River.As mentioned above, not far from this corner was the town of Momon Tupu.At this time, Ben-Zov had already climbed to a nearby hillside and looked into the sea, but there was nothing beyond the sea.The city of Orleans, located about ten kilometers to the southeast, didn't even have a shadow. Captain Selvadak and Ben-Zoffo left the place where they had spent the night and walked north along the new coast.The coast is full of broken fields and rickety trees whose branches hang down to the water.There are several thousand-year-old trees that seem to be chopped down with axes. They rode slowly, for the coast was full of great fissures and little bays, which they had to go around before they could go on.By the time the sun went down, they had only traveled thirty-five kilometers to the foot of Mount Marguitsha.Marguitza was originally the extension of the Little Atlas Mountains to this area. The mountain range is suddenly cut off in the middle, and strange peaks protrude one by one, standing on the shore. The next morning, they rode across a mountain pass and then hiked up a towering mountain.Standing on the top of the mountain, overlooking the surroundings, they finally figured out the vicissitudes that this narrow strip of Algeria has experienced. A new coast stretches from the foot of Marjicha Mountain to the Great Middle Sea in the north, with a total length of about 30 kilometers.They originally thought that they could go to Tenes from this side, but it was impossible. The Teas area no longer existed. The new world they explored in the past two days was not a peninsula at all, but a real land. isolated island.Servadac looked around from the top of the mountain, and there was no shadow of land everywhere. The newly formed island on the land of Algeria has a trapezoidal shape, but it can also be said to be a triangle.The lengths of the other sides are: 120 kilometers from the original bank of the Xieliyao River, 35 kilometers from south to north to the Little Atlas Mountains, and 30 kilometers from the Little Atlas Mountains to the Mediterranean Sea. km, and the original Mediterranean coast is 100 km.Thus, the island has a total circumference of 285 kilometers. "That's interesting!" said Captain Servadac, "but why did such an island form?" "What's so strange about that?" said Ben-Zoff. "It's the will of the Creator, Captain. God does what He wills." They walked down the hillside, stepped on their horses, and continued northward.On this day, they went all the way to the Mediterranean coast.The small seaside town of Montenotte has disappeared from the map like Tennesse, without a trace. The next day, January 5, they set out westward along the Mediterranean coast.Contrary to the captain's expectation, the scenery on the coast has not been completely preserved.Four villages: Kalaat-Zima, Amis, Marabu, and Pont-Bass have disappeared, and even some of the headlands have disappeared.Captain Servadak and Ben-Zov found that there was no one else on the island except the two of them, but a herd of cattle and sheep could occasionally be seen on the plain. Later, they returned to their place of residence.It took them five days—that is, two and a half days in the old calendar—to circle the island.In other words, it had been exactly sixty hours since they left the collapsed hut. "Captain!" said Ben-Zoff. "What's up?" "You are now Governor of Algeria!" "Without a single resident, what's the point of being a Governor?" "I'm not?" "Okay, you can count as..." "Your subjects." "How's my sonnet?" muttered the captain as he went to bed. "It's well worth the trouble of writing it now."